By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI News staff
When will the proposed fossil-fuel power
plant be operational? According to the developer, Chicago-based Invenergy
Thermal Development LLC, the start date is June 1, 2021. But the list of
doubters is growing.
To become a reality, the Clear River Energy Center must be
approved by the state Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB). That process has
been delayed two years by permitting and water-use issues.
Now, a new lawsuit filed by two energy developers claims the project can’t meet its already-past-due deadline and wants Invenergy to hold off from selling electricity from the proposed power plant into the power grid.
Now, a new lawsuit filed by two energy developers claims the project can’t meet its already-past-due deadline and wants Invenergy to hold off from selling electricity from the proposed power plant into the power grid.
Calpine Corp. of Houston and LS Power Associates LP of New York are asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to revoke Invenergy’s power contract, because it's unlikely that the power plant will be approved and built in time to honor it. They claim Invenergy is lowering energy prices by bidding into electricity contract auctions that the company knows it can’t fulfill.
Power plants are funded, in part,
through advanced agreements made with regional grid operators who promises to
buy the power for a fixed price three years in the future. These
forward-capacity auctions help power plants manage their books and secure
financing for construction, as is the case for the proposed $1 billion Clear River
Energy Center.
Delays have forced Invenergy to abdicate
a previous agreement to sell power from one of the Clear River Energy Center's
two natural gas-powered turbines.
Invenergy has failed twice to receive a power-purchase agreement for Unit 2, the second 485-watt turbine at the proposed fossil-fuel plant.
Invenergy has failed twice to receive a power-purchase agreement for Unit 2, the second 485-watt turbine at the proposed fossil-fuel plant.
To make matters worse, Invenergy
announced in November that Unit 2 was disqualified from the annual
forward-capacity auction set for February.
Calpine and LS Power claim the power
plant can’t move forward until both turbines have power agreements and that
allowing Unit 1 to keep its agreements artificially lowers prices for other
power plants participating in upcoming auctions.
The companies note that Invenergy is mired in a lawsuit with ISO New England, the regional grid operator, over the expense of connecting the power plant to the grid. The litigation and other unresolved issues are prompting Calpine and LS Power to ask FERC to order ISO New England to remove Unit 1 from the upcoming auction.
The companies note that Invenergy is mired in a lawsuit with ISO New England, the regional grid operator, over the expense of connecting the power plant to the grid. The litigation and other unresolved issues are prompting Calpine and LS Power to ask FERC to order ISO New England to remove Unit 1 from the upcoming auction.
“Accordingly, any chance of the Clear
River project achieving even the newly ‘targeted’ commercial operation date of
June 1, 2021 would appear to be out the window,” according to the recent
lawsuit.
On Dec. 22, the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) and the town of Burrillville filed a letter with the EFSB, asking the three-member board to address the latest lawsuit at the scheduled Jan. 30 show-cause hearing. The public meeting will decide if Invenergy's application should be suspended until the first legal dispute is settled.
CLF senior attorney Jerry Elmer has
noted that the lawsuit with National Grid and ISO New England could last
months. Even if it were settled quickly, the interconnection timeline is behind
schedule.
The process requires four stages that can’t be completed by June 2021, according to Elmer.
The process requires four stages that can’t be completed by June 2021, according to Elmer.
CLF, an intervenor in the application
process, recently asked Invenergy to show its plans to be running by 2021 and
to explain why it failed to complete an interconnection contract by Dec. 1, a
deadline necessary to reach its target start date.
There’s also the matter of the final
hearings for the application process. The evidentiary meetings offer testimony
from experts witnesses who represent Invenergy and the project’s opponents such
as CLF.
Those hearings aren't expected to start until April and run through the summer, provided there are no further delays.
Those hearings aren't expected to start until April and run through the summer, provided there are no further delays.
Elmer said of the hearings, “If we can
demonstrate (accurately) that Invenergy keeps lying, that will hurt Invenergy’s
credibility.”
Elmer accuses Invenergy of falsely
claiming four times, at hearings and in writing, between Nov. 20 and Dec. 13
that it will have the power plant running by 2021.
Invenergy declined to comment for this
story.
Invenergy introduced the Burrillville
power-plant proposal in August 2015, with the goal of being running by June 1,
2019. Delays in permits and securing a water source for the plant have added
two years to the timeline.
Invenergy’s desire to have ratepayers
fund the interconnection cost and unanswered questions about existing water
agreements prompted the EFSB to call for the show-cause hearing. The board will
decide if Invenergy’s application should be delayed until after the lawsuits
are settled.
“With each passing day, Invenergy seems
to be getting into more and more trouble,” Elmer said. “With each passing day,
it appears less and less likely that Invenergy will ever be built.”